A prep sink that is isolated from the cleanup stuff would drive me bonkers.

I have a cleanup sink and DW across from my range (I had the trash on the other side of the sink but moved it to free floating cans at the end because of personal preference). Just a bit down from the range is the prep sink. It's still close to the DW. A compost bucket lives over there. Disposals in both sinks. Everything is pretty close.

We put in two sinks as an afterthought because we often have extra people working at the same time and we had the space for 2 sinks.

The prep sink is also good for washing other things like houseplants, or serving as the main sink when something like a trombone or oven rack is soaking in the big sink. My kitchen isn't just for food-related stuff. All kinds of stuff happens there...

i have medium sized kitchens, and a second sink never made sense. but i am a Lone Cook, so a large kitchen doesnt make sense to me.

if my husband needs to wash his hands while i'm using the sink he uses the powder room.

Soo, I'll have an "over-designed" kitchen with two large sinks on opposite walls of a wide galley. Cleanup side has a disposal and electrical/plumbing for two dishwashers, with cabinetry for dishes/cutlery/serving items/glasses. It's right by the dining room. Prep/cooking side has a garbage disposal. I compost most fruit scraps and freeze the vegetable ones for stock, but I went ahead and put in garbage disposals, anyway. Your concern about walking the prep things to the dishwasher was one of mine, as well. I'm going to stack the prep items and carry them over all at once, at the end. I guess I could have a little wheeled cart/table instead. We'll see, it's not that far.

Since I almost always have 3-4 people wanting to "help" cook in the evenings, or most days during the summer, I spread things out so we wouldn't be bumping into each other. They all can absolutely do the clean-up. I have a large kitchen and deleted the eating area to make more work space.

alex

thanks for answering my post. How do you have multiple wanting to help in the kitchen during the week days? Wow... That is a tremendous way to live. I am envious of your connected family/friends.

When I did the last remodel, I pondered and nixed the second sink. Quite happy with my choice for the current kitchen.

Again, gathering info for the next kitchen

We put one in the end of our kitchen which has no disposal or DW. We use this area for coffee and as a wet bar, and this sink has a filter, so the water glasses are there too. The drawers underneath are a SZ freezer with ice, and the cupboards have glassware and liquor, so husband serves drinks from there at parties. We entertain a lot and I do like having a sink that is always clean. We don’t use it for prep at all. It’s also good for filling with ice to quickly chill soups and stocks etc.

My second sink has a trash pullout next to it and a disposal. We are not moved in yet but I plan it to be a bit of a prep sink but more of a sink for kids to wash hands and the extra helper to be out of my way. It also provides a better vantage point to our backyard so I can watch the kids in the pool.

I live by myself. No need for 2 sinks, 2 dishwashers or two of anything. However, my mom had 6 kids and we had family dinners nights a week. As I got older and my older siblings got married and had kids, they all came to dinner at my mom's house (Amish community). We had 15-18 people eating there every night and my mom had a 14' galley kitchen with a double sink and a dishwasher. She did have 2 wall ovens and a 6 burner stove, a full size refrigerator and a full size freezer, but never needed another sink. She also canned every fall and didn't need an extra sink for that either. I think sometimes we just want more, but more isn't always better.

I have a secondary sink in the island with a disposal. No trash or DW right there. Our previous house was set up the same.

Rarely have anyone helping with cooking. I see it mostly as a spare sink for hand washing or filling something up when the main sink is in use. It is great for parties to use as an ice bucket to place drinks in! My new sinks (Julien) have a cutting board that will fit across the top, so I will also now be able to cover the island sink if we are using the island as a buffet to serve all the food.

I would have no problem if I had to prep vegetables at the island and put any trash into a bowl, to then carry to the trash next to the main sink.

I lived without a kitchen and no DW for 5 months ... so it is all a bit of overkill, but it certainly makes life easier!

I also placed my Miele convection steam oven under the counter, right next to the island sink, so the water supply and drain that were there came in very handy. I also like that if I have something very drippy from the steam oven I can hold it over the island sink.

My main sink is 30 x 18 x 10 and my prep sink is 18 x 18 x 10. If I had the room I would have gone even bigger on the main sink.

Ha! The husband and 3 kids are always milling about in the evenings during the school year. I restrict extracurriculars to one at a time per kid so we're not running all over, every night. During the summer, they're helping if I make breakfast and unloading the dishwasher. They're learning simple things for making their own breakfast and lunch, apart from cereal or m/w items. For dinner, I put everyone to work with prep jobs and, of course, clean up.

I do prefer to have the kitchen to myself because I'm not much of a teacher. Once parenthood is part of the job description, you're one whether you excel at it, or not!

My layout before had most of the important things in a 3 ft square area. Just dumb in a 23x13 kitchen! There are enough variables that using a second sink isn't a given. As you know. By separating the clean-up zone, I've made it one and it works for our family and myself.

Edit: my new clean-up sink used to be a bar sink. It was only used to hold items that were defrosting. No one would use it to wash hands or fruit for snacking. Our tap is disgusting so no filling glasses. Now, that plumbing has a purpose.

I have a large kitchen with 2 sinks and each has its own dw and garbage and quite far apart, I use them differently. One is my (smaller) everyday prep and clean up sink. the other is in my baking area and is my sink for clean up at holidays and when entertaining. It is large to take the large platters and roasting pans that are too big for the dw. The entertaining dinnerware and flatware is next to that sink and my everyday stuff is near the smaller prep sink. That arrangement works really well for me in that kitchen and especially as I had a full family living at home. at the time of renovation. I am currently planning on redoing the small inefficient kitchen in a vacation home and will be doubling the size of the kitchen. Currently, this really small kitchen has 2 sinks which are less than 5 feet apart!!!! It is a waste of counter space and cabinet space as you can't use that space under the sink efficiently for storage. ( an important consideration). And then there is cabinet space for extra garage and dw. When I redo it I will probably only put in one sink. No need to waste that counter and cabinet space. And as it will probably be a galley style kitchen, one sink will be easily accessible from all parts of the kitchen. Think of how YOU will not only use it but how much storage and counter space it will eat up. When i entertain at a vacation house for a lot of people, those paper plates are coming out so no need for a second dw!

I put a second sink in my last home when we remodeled. It ended up mostly being used as a drop space for mail,etc. because of proximity to garage entrance. Never used as a sink...totally not needed ( had lots of big family dinners too)

We moved into our new house in June and our main double sink (double Ikea Domsjo), which is the main clean-up sink, has a dishwasher next to it, and garbage can below. The range is nearby.

There's another sink (a single Ikea Domsjo) on the other side of island near the fridge and the wall oven. I usually have my husband and between one and three kids helping out, we use the second sink as the prep sink, getting vegetables ready, etc. We live on a farm and and save meat scraps for the cats and dog, and fruit/vegetable scraps for the chickens and sheep, so there's a pail near the second sink. It's also useful when the kids are filling up water bottles (their own and the ones we keep in the fridge), if my daughter is baking when I'm cooking something and needs to wash the dough off her hands, etc. It's also a good place to set up dinner guests who come early and offer to help; I can put someone to work with vegetables and the "chicken pail", and have them out of the way and also keep the main sink free for clean-up. As waverley mentions, the single large prep sink can accommodate larger pans and platters I don't put in the dishwasher which comes in handy for parties and holidays.

I also can and freeze a lot of fruit and vegetables, and the second sink has been great for that. I can have a sink full of beets or cucumbers or apples, and still have the main sink available for washing up. And for flowers and flowering branches -- for about three weeks, I had lilac branches in that sink after cutting them, while getting them ready to put in jars and vases.